Spokane, let's talk about math...

The State Board of Education took its show on the road last week, holding its bi-monthly meeting in Spokane. Given an agenda packed with weighty items, the small audience turnout was both surprising and disappointing.

Was 80 degree weather the culprit? Well, it certainly doesn’t help when people have to give up a couple days of their summer to sit in a bland conference room. But another issue could be that the public isn’t convinced these discussions are going to make a meaningful difference in our schools. After all, there has been a significant imbalance between “the talk” and “the walk” on most education policy initiatives in our state. This meeting presented both evidence of the risk that this trend could continue, and encouraging signs that we might be able to overcome the inertia to make meaningful progress in the months ahead.

Even as she laid out a series of clear and logical recommendations for improving the state math’s standards, consultant Linda Plattner of Strategic Teaching described an uneasy and incomplete détente between two feuding math camps, those advocating a “return to basics” and those pushing for more integrated, contextual math instruction. Plattner has correctly pointed out that this can't be an either-or proposition and balance is required.

The Board’s Meaningful Diploma Committee’s preliminary recommendations included thoughtful changes to minimum credit requirements in English, math, social sciences and world languages to better reflect continuing education and workplace requirements. The board would also like to see lifelong learning skills, including critical thinking, teamwork, civic responsibility, financial literacy, information and technology literacy and leadership, more explicitly required for students to earn a diploma. Even as the board recognized the need for these changes, there was considerable concern about whether local districts have the capacity to implement more stringent standards.

And the Board’s discussion of system accountability recommendations included concern with the term “intervention” and the loss of local control if the state were to engage in persistently struggling schools, a déjà vu moment for anyone who sat through similar deliberations by the Academic Achievement and Accountability Commission years ago.

These are complex issues and it’s not that these concerns aren’t legitimate. They are. But in the past, we’ve too often allowed similar concerns to stall all progress. In contrast, the current State Board seems committed to moving forward. The Math Standards recommendations are scheduled for adoption and submission to OSPI in September, while the Meaningful Diploma and System Accountability recommendations are set for November adoption.

Materials are available on the Board’s website and public input is encouraged. So there is still time to make your views known. And you won’t even have to give up your summer days to do so.